First let’s go to the specifics of Homura and Madoka’s respective wishes.

Homura: Redo her meeting with Madoka in which she is the one who protects her.
Effect: She enters a time loop where she gets a chance to save Madoka

Madoka: Wishes to destroy all witches of past and future before they are born
Effect: Every Puella Magi who sank to despair never became a witch and a new system of gathering energy was born.

Now, what I would like to discuss at this point is how Madoka’s wish intersected with Homura’s, leaving the question as to whether or not Homura’s wish was fulfilled. In order to drive my point, i’ll be basing it all on a character’s “informed choice”.

If anything, Puella Magi Madoka Magica has shown us the naivety of little girls. This is not an offending statement, this is simply the truth of this anime.

Mami wished to be saved herself (parents not included)

Sayaka wished for Kamijou to be healed

Kyouko wished for her father to be understood

Homura wished to save her friend

These are all noble wishes, even Mami’s wish to live on alone, but you have to admit, as reality dawns on them, these wishes are a product of their naivety. It is a price that they had to pay that comes back at them baring all fangs. Mami wished to live on but the fact that she’s all alone is payment for that wish. Sayaka wished to heal Kamijou but the payment for that is unrequited love. Kyouko wished for her father only for her entire family to be killed by him. Homura wished to save Madoka only to isolate herself. Most importantly, all of them wished without having complete knowledge of how Kyuubey’s system works and this factor sealed their fate in an endless chain of despair.

Talk about Kyubey's Mindfuck!

Then, Madoka finally made her wish. We can say that this is a carefully worded wish meant to carve the future of Puella Magi, filling it with hope rather than continuing the cycle of despair.Let’s analyze further what that wish mean and the effects that it had.

By taking on the despair of every Puella Magi across time, the system was rewritten and the universe, reborn and the memory of Kaname Madoka was removed from the characters of this anime save from Homura which was able to accompany Madoka to what I would like to consider as God’s realm (In Star Wars , Madoka has become one with the force :D )

I LOVE YURI!!! YURI END FTW!!!

We can also assume that from her experience of having a personal encounter with the divine (Madoka), Homura has inherited some of her powers.

A gundam ending?

Due to a timely explanation coming from Steins;Gate the altering of memories so that Kaname Madoka did not exist made sense but I am quite curious as to why Tatsuya seem to have remembered his sister.

If there is a sequel, he may be having a role to play

If there was a powerful scene that literally moved me to tears, this would be it. Which is harder to accept? That Kaname Madoka was forgotten by the world or that Kaname Madoka was forgotten by her mother? No offense but even Jesus was cradled by his mother when he died... ;_;

With Madoka finally getting her wish, we seem to be forgetting another important matter.

Was Homura’s wish granted? Not really. But we can say that Homura finally accepted it and decided to end it.

The reason why she wished to go back and redo her meeting with Madoka was because she didn’t accept her death. This time, it’s as if Madoka has finally told Homura to stop what she’s doing and let her embrace her destiny.

Madoka was destined to die and Homura, from the first timeline never understood that. With how Homura became informed during the course of her time jump, she grew in character and came to understand how things were meant to be and with her acceptance, along with Madoka’s deus ex machina, she was freed from the curse of her time travel yet.

I would like to note here the irony that, despite wishing to protect Madoka, in the end, it seems that Homura cannot defeat fate.

Madoka was destined to protect Homura and until Homura acknowledges that, she’d never escape the time loop. And to beautify everything in this finale, what better way to remind Homura that Madoka will always protect her than to give her her powers. The bow and arrow that Madoka uses as well as those pair of wings are a reminder of Madoka’s love and self-sacrifice. If there is a second season, I believe that Homura will be a symbolic reminder of how one Puella Magi saved the future of all Puella Magi out of love.

Madoka was destined to die and Homura, from the first timeline never understood that. With how Homura became informed during the course of her time jump, she grew in character and came to understand how things were meant to be and with her acceptance, along with Madoka’s deus ex machina, she was freed from the curse of her time travel yet.

I would like to note here the irony that, despite wishing to protect Madoka, in the end, it seems that Homura cannot defeat fate.

I absolutely loved the concept behind Homura’s hard fought battles to save Madoka. Although Homura needed to accept Madoka’s destiny and that she couldn’t save her in the way she wanted to, Homura did end up rescuing Madoka from the despair that Madoka in the previous loops experienced. With every iteration, Homura might have contributed to nurturing Madoka’s powers and potential to become the most powerful Puella Magi and witch that ever existed but it was also precisely because of this that gave Madoka the means to pull off that freaking awesome dues ex machina (Of course, part of what made it freaking awesome was how Madoka totally screwed Kyubey over at his own game. HAH! Take that you despicable furball! XD).

Madoka in one of the previous loops begged Homura to save her from her stupidity of falling into Kyubey’s trap. I guess in a roundabout way, Homura did just that. She saved Madoka from her stupidity. In the end, Madoka outsmarted Kyubey and rewrote the Puella Magi system with her wish. She destroyed the damning illogical law which dictated that for every amount of hope that Puella Magis spread, an equivalent amount of despair must be propagated as witches. She became an omnipresent immortal and the very personification of hope who rescued every Puella Magi that ever existed instead of meeting a miserable end like she did in the previous loops. I think this relates to the point emphasized above regarding the theme behind “wishes gone wrong as a result of a girl’s naivety”. All of the other Puella Magis were shown to have paid dearly for their wishes because of their naivety. Homura especially, was portrayed as one of the most tragic heroines because of how her original good intentions of wanting to save and protect Madoka ended up snowballing into a situation that became far worse in her eyes with regards to her personally contributing to Madoka’s growing potential as a Puella Magi and witch. Despite that, I found it amazing how Homura’s unyielding efforts and sacrifices led to this present Madoka’s wish. A wish that was indeed well thought out and carefully worded. A wish that might have sounded imprudent because of the consequences Madoka would end up with but it brought benefits for the greater good. And most importantly, it was a wish that Madoka did not regret making. Who would have thought that Madoka, who started off as the most apprehensive, meek and naïve individual of the group ended up being the one who made the most badass wish of all?

With all things considered, I found the finale to be a wonderful closure to this series. It wasn’t a 100% happy ending but truth to be told, I couldn’t have wished for a better curtain call. My heart did cry in pain upon learning that Madoka was erased from the memories of her loved ones and the world she protected, save for Homura. Moreover, the existence of witches might have been obliterated but the presence of negative emotions in the form of demons still remains. Nevertheless, I didn’t mind that this chapter didn’t have a concrete sense of finality to it. That made the series’ parting gift all the more exciting and memorable. It left the story with an open-ended conclusion and created more possibilities with this world. And oh yes, the yuri fangirl in me must say the epilogue was indeed beautiful and romantic. Homura being the only one who remembers Madoka… Madoka watching over her, giving her hope and leaving her legacy with her… The both of them are eternally bound by the destiny they worked together for. As for the final scene, we can interpret Homura going all out against the demons however we want, but I’d like to think her duty towards the world she is protecting has finally come to an end and that she is ready to return to Madoka. Whether she lived on or whether she passed on, it’s still a bittersweet happy ending either way. :)

Homura did end up rescuing Madoka from the despair that Madoka in the previous loops experienced

Great observation there! It never occurred to me that the peak of Homura’s grief is the irony of her saving Madoka.

Madoka in one of the previous loops begged Homura to save her from her stupidity of falling into Kyubey’s trap. I guess in a roundabout way, Homura did just that. She saved Madoka from her stupidity.

This too! So in the end, can we say that Homura fulfilled her wish of saving Madoka without her even realizing it? I think the fact that Homura was experiencing an overwhelming amount of despair at that point (realizing that Madoka will still become a Puella Magi and knowing of Madoka’s fate) lead me to believe that her wish was not fulfilled. I wonder if she realized this herself.

I’d like to think her duty towards the world she is protecting has finally come to an end and that she is ready to return to Madoka. Whether she lived on or whether she passed on, it’s still a bittersweet happy ending either way.

After seeing Sayaka disappear and Madoka accompanying her, I’m lead to believing that all Puella Magi who vanish from the world ends up meeting with Madoka as she leads them to heaven… or wherever that was. But truthfully, with how Madoka left the world open to newer possibilities, I’d like to see spinoffs such as Kasumi and Oriko Magica or even a movie showcasing Homura’s exploits. Hell, SHAFT may even want to milk this franchise for all I care as long as they slap in the Trinity again (shinbo, ume, urobuchi) :D

So in the end, can we say that Homura fulfilled her wish of saving Madoka without her even realizing it? I think the fact that Homura was experiencing an overwhelming amount of despair at that point (realizing that Madoka will still become a Puella Magi and knowing of Madoka’s fate) lead me to believe that her wish was not fulfilled. I wonder if she realized this herself.

This is actually very reasonable. It depends on the goal Homura visualized in her mind the entire time she was trying to save Madoka. If we assume her intended objective was to prevent Madoka from establishing a contract with Kyubey at all cost, we can say her wish was not fulfilled and she had failed to save Madoka that way. If Homura wanted Madoka to live as a happy human girl after this current outcome, her wish was also not fulfilled in that sense as she deemed Madoka’s fate of existing as a “goddess” to be cruel because of how everyone will forget her. Homura’s despair at the knowledge of that situation was definitely understandable. However at the same time, her intended goal was extremely difficult to achieve when we look at things from a practical perspective. To begin with, for how long will Homura need to protect Madoka in the way she originally wanted? Even if Kyubey gave up on bugging Madoka and Sayaka like he did in Episode 4, there’s no telling if he would exploit another future event similar to what happened with Sayaka. Assessing the circumstances based on this together with Madoka’s eventual deus ex machina deal with Kyubey at the end, yep, we can say that Homura fulfilled her wish of saving Madoka without her realizing it. Madoka did not become a witch and neither did she die nor will she ever die for all of eternity. I guess the way Homura saw it, she didn’t achieve her intended goal. However, from Madoka’s as well as the audience’s point of view, she did save Madoka as this ultimate outcome is probably for the best in the long run.

After seeing Sayaka disappear and Madoka accompanying her, I’m lead to believing that all Puella Magi who vanish from the world ends up meeting with Madoka as she leads them to heaven… or wherever that was.

If that’s what KitaEri meant by Sayaka’s “ray of light”, it sure was an interesting take on things when it comes to the end of a Puella Magi’s life. Puella Magis could essentially be seen as immortals due to their bodies’ construction and given that they don’t inevitably turn into witches anymore according to Madoka’s new system, all they have to do is exhaust their magic if they are prepared or wish to move on to a better life. Fascinating indeed. :D

I’d like to see spinoffs such as Kasumi and Oriko Magica or even a movie showcasing Homura’s exploits. Hell, SHAFT may even want to milk this franchise for all I care as long as they slap in the Trinity again (shinbo, ume, urobuchi) :D

Likewise, I’m all for a continuation or a spinoff of any kind! The world they built is too awesome to be left as it is and it would be a shame if everything ends here. Hur, haven’t touched the Kasumi and Oriko Magica series yet. I guess I should. I still haven’t gotten over my withdrawal yet. orz

Most (if not all) images posted in this blog are from their respective owners, groups, artists, etc. Should there be any issues, please do contact me by commenting on the 'Blog Rules' section or sending me an email